When you live and grow up in a city like New York, you learn things pretty quickly. You learn that even when the sign is red, people still cross the street, plan ahead when taking the MTA anywhere, and that snow gets very old, very fast. As a kid and even now, snow has always been one of those things that fascinated me because of how pure it seemed to look. Winter looked the complete opposite of summer, where everything was green, the trees were bushy and full of life, and everyone walked around in barely anything. During winter, everything was a nice fluff of white, the trees were bare and everyone was wrapped so tightly in coats that they’d have trouble putting their arms down. When I was younger and it snowed, I was the most ecstatic person in the world. I immediately wanted to go out and play, make snowmen and jump around, but when I looked at my family members’ faces, they were anything but impressed.
As I got older, my love for snow didn’t fade, but it turned into something else entirely, something more mature. I didn’t want to go out in the snow anymore and run and play, but I wanted to sit and watch as it fell across the streets, the sidewalk, the trees and even on people. One thing I always liked about the snow was that it made everything a clean slate. Cars would drive over streets enough to make tire tracks in the snow, but by the morning, it was reset like no car had ever touched the street. Another thing that I always liked about the snow in a city like New York was how everything seemed to quiet at night. Little to no cars were driving around, no one was walking around outside, and it was almost like the world was at a standstill, and the only thing that was moving was the snow softly hitting the ground.
I chose this picture because this photo represents everything I see when I see snow. Many people see snow as a cold inconvenience or a reason that they have to break out their shovel to dig out their car. I see snow the way this artist portrays it in the picture; a serene, calm wonderland of white that makes you feel at peace, but interested at the same time because you don’t know what’s out there when everything is covered in white. Snow is the one thing I can look at and think absolutely nothing about because all I have to do is look and admire. To me, this picture represents a new start, a clean state, or a new beginning, whether it be in work, in school or in life. It represents the fact that regardless of what has happened in the past, everyone can and deserves to have a clean slate to work on. They shouldn’t forget that the past is there under all the snow, but they can make something new out of what is given to them. To me, snow is a fresh start, something that everyone needs every once in a while… plus it’s also kind of fun to play with.
